Empire’s Hong Kong Partnership Making a Difference
Approximately 600 students impacted through 3 year collaboration
That’s a wrap!
For the third consecutive year, Empire Mock Trial has successfully partnered with ARCH Community Outreach (“ACO”) to coordinate the Hong Kong Inter-School Mock Trial Championship (“HK Championship”) at Hong Kong University. Over 200 students from 22 high schools zealously advocated for and against the liability of a packaging company, whose alleged negligence caused the death of Lee Chan.
“Meeting the students and watching them shine this weekend was the culmination of months of work and preparation from ACO and Empire,” said Viran Weerasekera, Empire’s Director of Competition Operations and Empire’s Program Coordinator for the HK Championship. “These are incredibly talented and motivated students, and it was an honour to be able to facilitate this experience.”
ACO is a non-profit charity whose mission is to connect Hong Kong students with international education and career opportunities. Students who participate in the HK Championship build invaluable skills that will help them at university and in the workforce. ACO and Empire have been delighted to partner together for yet another year.
“We want to say a big thank you to Empire for partner-organizing with us for the HK Championship,” said ACO Charity Manager Kylie Ng. “We’re getting great feedback from students, teachers and judges on the tabulation, amazing case materials, and Empire’s timely response to inquiries.”
Empire began partnering with ACO in 2017 to host the HK Championship, an event which had been run for three years prior by a former American college mock trial competitor. The tournament had run much like a U.S. college mock trial competition, as a result, even centering around American law.
Empire saw an opportunity to make an already great competition even better.
“We view(ed) this collaboration as a unique opportunity to teach Hong Kong students about their own laws and trial procedures, the way that state programs do here in the United States,” said Executive Director, Justin Matarrese, who participated in the New York State Bar Association’s program as a high school student. “The first thing we did was redesign the Evidence Ordinance and change the Competition Rulebook to reflect those customs.”
Out with “attorneys”, and in with the “barristers”;
Out with “direct examination”, and in with “examination-in-chief”;
Out with state court in Midlands, and in with the High Court of First Instance.
“We contacted local lawyers and reviewed Hong Kong evidence textbooks. We wanted this to be as authentic a learning experience as possible for the students,” added Matarrese.
3 years and 3 competitions later, the Empire-ACO partnership has impacted approximately 600 high school students from 72 teams. One of them is Letitia Chan.
“Throughout the past 2 years, mock trial has proven itself to be a life-changing experience for me. It is truly as the lyrics go, ‘there will be miracles, when you believe’; that is, when you have faith in your team and all the preparation work you have done,” said Chan, team captain of the victorious St. Paul’s Convent. “I am always humbled by the performance of my opponents and that of my teammates in trial. I will forever be grateful for the lessons I’ve learnt through mock trial.”
Ms. Chan’s team will be traveling to the United States to attend an Empire competition, thanks to the generosity of ACO. Seeking to provide international learning opportunities for students, ACO provides the winning team of the HK Championship with an all-expenses paid trip to compete in the U.S.
Veteran mock trial coach, Karen Lau, has previously been a recipient of ACO’s generosity. Her St. Paul’s Convent School represented Hong Kong in the U.S. two years ago and will be headed there once again in 2019.
“I am most touched to witness the transformation of my students from their participation in mock trial tournaments. Not only have they become much more confident, assertive and compelling public speakers, they have become outstanding leaders and responsible global citizens with a big heart for a better world,” said Lau. “Most mock trial graduates are current law students at university–and the current students aspire to become lawyers in the future. If there is only one thing I could recommend students to do in high school, it has got to be mock trial.”
This year’s HK Championship was made possible by the ACO’s diligent staff, working side-by-side with Empire’s representatives.
Weerasekera began his work on the HK Championship in December, liasoning with the Empire Case Committee to produce an original case. Over the following four months, he worked closely with Ng to plan logistics and competition operations.
On competition week/weekend, Weerasekera handled all tabulation issues and continued to serve as Empire’s primary point-person. He was joined by Empire graduate, Sydney Franklin, who reprised her role as Master of Ceremonies while assisting in the tabulation room, and Harry Tillis, who donated his time to Empire and ACO for the third consecutive year. Tillis went beyond the “call of duty”, taking on additional responsibility after an Empire team member had to withdraw at the last minute due to a family emergency.
Empire and ACO thank Harry Tilis for his efforts; both organizations are incredibly grateful for his time and support.
Three years. Three competitions. Hundreds of students impacted. Empire’s first overseas partnership has been extraordinary for us.
“It was our privilege to work with ARCH Community Outreach in expanding the reach of mock trial around the world,” said Weerasekera. “It has been a brilliant cross-collaborative and effort branching across Asia, Australia and North America.”
“I really enjoyed working with everyone on the Empire side and look forward to continuing to work together,” reflected Ng.
